Felix kicked off any clutter left on the ring. His gaze shifted towards the audience slightly below him, a few in particular caught his eye. At the very front stood Maria, just outside of the ring. Another was his sparring partner, Lance. A woman with maroon red-hair and rabbit ears.
And then there were the other two, Rico and Kaitlin.
If the two rookies are watching, I should at least make this entertaining to watch.
"Kick his ass, Allison!" One of them shouted.
Felix moved to the edge, "Lance, you dick, you're lucky you're not the one here!"
"Just fight already!" The red-haired woman shouted.
He rolled his shoulder and gave a soft smile. "Alright… mats cleared of debris. We can start."
Allison took her stance, two hands in front like a grappling pose. Her overwhelming presence took over, emanating strength and experience.
Felix began to bounce around the mat, waiting for the first move. Even if it was just a spar, taking the first strike against the lion would be a fatal mistake.
Maria raised her voice from the edge of the ring, "Ready?"
"ENGAGE!" Kaitlin screamed from the crowd, making Maria's eye twitch.
Felix let out a sharp exhale through his teeth, and the battle began as Allison initiated the first attack. A fast, sharp jab. Felix, confident in his own physical strength, had that confidence shattered as she destroyed his guard.
Pushed back by the blow, his hands trembled down to the fingertips.
She followed up with consecutive vicious jabs, which made Felix's feet dig into the floor mats.
He adapted to her jabs little by little, following the pattern of her fists, and inching towards her, looking for the chance to counter. As he slid in and under her arms, he struck. Allison arched her back, inches near the ground, escaping his fist and the gust of wind that followed.
The lioness grabbed his head with her legs and threw him across the room.
He rolled over the ground and he quickly got on all fours, sprinting like an animal to avoid a fist that came crashing down.
"Felix!" Maria shouted, "Two legs, not four!"
The black cat got back up as soon as her fist cracked the ground.
Standing on two legs, he followed up with a rapid barrage of his own, only for each of blow to get easily parried. Instinctively, he threw another kick, whipping his leg upward. Not learning from last time, she grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him straight to the ground.
His vision turned pitch-black for a moment.
When he opened his eyes, there was a sharp ringing in his ear, but even in spite of it, he heard Maria's voice counting upward, "Six… seven…"
A sharp ache radiated throughout his neck and head as he looked ahead. In front of him, he saw his opponent's unchanged, dull expression. A memory replayed in his mind, and a voice in his head told him to get back up.
"Eight… And he's back on his feet, everybody!" Maria announced loudly, to which the crowds responded with an explosion of cheers and excitement.
Felix staggered to stay upright, but he grit his teeth and raised his fist, signaling that he was ready to continue.
Allison once again raised her fists, not allowing her opponent any mercy. She followed and struck once again, but as she did, Felix made an opening for himself, avoiding her strike and followed with a counter.
Her golden locks dragged against the wind as her feet tore through the floor mat.
"That attack…" Allison muttered.
Felix followed with a flurry of attacks. His arms were like weapons, striking and whipping at every turn, and yet— Fast as they were, they were caught in her hands, and she threw herself towards him with a rock-hard headbutt.
He reeled a step back as his head wobbled. His forehead was marked red.
"Alright, serious time." Allison muttered to herself.
She lowered her stance, not dissimilar to the one he had used against her earlier. She appeared as a carnivorous animal, tensing up moments before it springs to its prey.
The Phantom, in turn, took back control of his body and firmly planted his feet, digging his heels and toes with desperate strength. He lifted his arm above his shoulder and tightened his fist, there was an imaginary weight as he held the shaft of an invisible weapon.
"What's he doing?" Isabelle's brow curled curiously.
"A spear…" The red-eyed man beside her mumbled.
She turned to him and asked, "What?"
"That pose... It looks like he's holding a spear." Nero remarked.
"Come on... work…" Felix muttered as both of his eyes beginning to radiate a cold, azure light. A crisp, thin blue ribbon manifested from his hand and spiraled up his arm.
Allison took a step forward, and though his senses were heightened, she had vanished in front of him.
His eyes widened as they gradually grew accustomed to her movements, and saw that she was crouched against one of the pillars that made the ring. But before his body could even turn around to face her, she already landed on the other one, and was preparing to jump once more.
She moved from one pillar to another, weaving together a golden thread across the arena.
Nero and Isabelle's heads kept turning as they followed, yet Maria's expression remained unimpressed, her irises reflected every single one of Allison's movements.
When she finally reappeared, for just a split second, cat ears sprouted from her hair.
His eyes quickly narrowed as the inescapable blow was less than a few inches from impact.
His memory flashed to earlier and remembered what Nero did to escape.
A hazy blue vortex shot out from Felix's fist and spiraled throughout the hall. The crowds became deafeningly silent after a loud crackle reverberated across the room.
Everyone watched with stunned expressions.
The two combatants took a step back. Allison nearly toppled over, gasping and covered in scratches, while Felix —
*
On the ground, he let out a deep groan.
"Get up, Felix."
The skies were pitch black, and standing in front of a car, a shadow asked, "Can you still fight?"
Short, ragged breaths escaped his lips as he pushed his face off the asphalt, just enough to look at the figure.
Frost bit into his skin, while wind howled in his ears.
Her form silhouetted against the harsh white headlights. Long, silver hair swayed with the swirling snowflakes, a green clover pendant dangled on her chest, swaying as well.
The snow continued to gently pour. He steadied his breathing, letting out a deep exhale that turned into a white mist.
"Come on, work…" He spoke in a raspy voice.
Particles of light flickered from his scraped hands as he rose to his feet.
"That's it, Felix." She spun her crimson spear, "Every time you fall, you get back up."
Blue light enveloped his body as he got back up on his feet.
Her fiery eyes pierced through the darkness of the snow, "Your anger and regret, can you feel it swirling inside you? The storm raging inside your heart… Can you call upon it?"
Both of his eyes radiated with the unnatural glow as he faced her.
He clenched his fists tight, and the azure light spiraled around him, and snow followed it's path, coalescing into a cold sphere.
A blizzard was brewing, and he was it's center.
Luna smirked, raising her spear — An orange blaze erupted from it's tip.
As it burst into sunset-colored energy, fire and ice collided in the night.
Felix gasped, his mismatched eyes snapped open and he found himself on Maria's lap.
"You know, you really have to stop doing that all-fours animal style fighting nonsense." She pouted.
As he got up, he looked around and the training hall had become empty. The crowds have cleared up and only three people remained, "M-Marie? What... happened?" He groaned.
"She grew cat ears and a tail, and you blacked out. She looked kind of cute, actually. Golden Lion, huh?" She said, looking far off.
"That right? Expected nothing less from CHIMERA's golden girl." He sat up, looking at Allison, who was with the red-haired woman.
She swiped the back of her hair, "Welp, there goes my expectations."
"It's not my fault you overestimate me." Felix muttered with a sharp groan.
Maria grabbed him by the cheeks, pulling him close with a cold stare, "You want to be rank one, don't you? You're supposed to be better than this — act like it."
"R-right." He nervously gulped.
She sighed, letting go of his face. Her eyebrows curled with annoyance.
"On the flip side, you left a Felix-shaped crater where you landed." Her voice returned to the usual poppy tone, pointed to the floor, where his body left a silhouette on the floor mat.
Allison walked up to Felix with a blank expression, "I apologize, I took you seriously." She was her normal self, the additional ears and tail were gone.
Felix laughed awkwardly in disbelief, "That somehow both annoys me and makes me happy at the same time."
"I remember now. You're Luna's brother, right?" She tilted her head.
"…I'm surprised you remembered."
"Your attack… It looked like you were throwing a spear. It was familiar."
"I feel like I've finally caught up to you, even just by a bit. Good match." Felix smiled and reached his hand out.
"Yeah… good match." Allison muttered with a gentle smile as she shook his hand.
But as she let go, Felix suddenly lost balance and fell to the ground. The intense shock on his body quickly caught up as he got up, and Maria lifted him over her shoulder.
"Easy there, bud."
"Thanks, Marie…" He then turned his head back at Allison, "Think you and I can have a rematch again sometime—?"
As Maria helped Felix up straight, her and Allison's eyes met, and as they did, the golden lion pounced far from the two of them.
"Huh, what's wrong?" Felix asked, though Maria just smiled cheerfully toward her.
"I'm… sorry." Allison's emerald eyes sharpened immensely, there was subtle agitation in her voice, "I have to go."
"Oh, uh… okay." Felix waved.
Both of them watched with as Allison ran out of the training hall.
"There goes Golden Lion's golden lion." Maria mumbled.
"Allison, wait!" The maroon-haired woman called out, rabbit ears, gone, "Great, you scared her off."
"You can still catch her. Hop to it." Felix smirked.
"Ha, ha."
"Friend of yours?" Maria asked, still carrying him.
"My firearms mentor, Saya Song."
"You're more entrenched in Chimera than I thought."
"And I'm keeping pace." Felix added.
"You land one hit on her and suddenly you've caught up?" She scoffed.
"When I was young, I wouldn't have even dodged her first jab, now I landed a blow on her… so yeah, improvement." He snickered.
She rolled her eyes, smiling, "Good job."
He gazed into his balled fist.
What is it that I wanted to prove? That I was stronger than I was before? Or maybe I just wanted someone else to knock some sense into me… or maybe I wanted something else entirely. In any case, that made me clear my head.
"So, Luna Aster… You never told me she was your sister." Maria's eyes narrowed.
"I didn't? I'll tell you some other time."
"Mmkay. Sure."
The moment he looked at the room, his expression shifted from excitement to a scowl.
His fist tightened over Maria's shoulder.
"What?" She asked.
Gnashing his teeth, his eye twitched at all the shoe prints left behind, "Nobody removed their damn shoes, now the training room is dirty…"
"The janitor'll clean it up. Now c'mon, the Chief is waiting for us." She said as she carried him out of the room.
~